Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A new vaccine against measles is ready for distribution in Switzerland, in time to vaccinate Euro 2008 football fans who are behind on their shots. The Official Medicines Control Laboratory of Swissmedic, the federal agency with responsibility for therapeutic products, announced Friday that it has completed its analysis  of a live vaccine against measles for distribution
in Switzerland. Swissinfo reported Friday that a batch of 6,000 doses of the vaccine is ready.

Photo reprinted with permission, Keystone/Euro 2008 SA

The WHO (World Health Organization) has been advising anyone traveling to Switzerland or Austria, the host countries of the Euro 2008 Cup, to check the status of their vaccinations.

The new vaccine protects against measles alone, unlike the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) triple vaccine generally given to children. Single measles vaccines have long been available in Switzerland but they required a special permit, the demand was small and the higher cost has not always been covered by insurance companies. The new single vaccine is considered "authorized" and will therefore be easily available. It has the potential advantage of being better accepted by the 5-10% of parents in Switzerland who have health concerns about the combined vaccine (background: "Red spots alert!" 4 April, GenevaLunch: interview with Claire-Anne Siegrist, president of the Swiss federal vaccinations commission).

The new vaccine’s approval is timely, with media gradually spreading the message to teams and fans coming to Switzerland for the Euro 2008 matches in June that they should be vaccinated. The Swiss government and World Health Organization (WHO) made the recommendation at the end of February and the WHO again urged people to get vaccinated when it published a 16 April update on the Swiss epidemic. The BBC picked up the story 18 April and Reuters Health Information updated it 25 April. The news agency’s story was widely picked up over the weekend, from Illinois in the US to India, New Zealand and Iran.

As GenevaLunch reported 25 April, the epidemic remains strong despite public health measures to curb it, with nearly 2,500 cases reported to date. More than half of these have occurred since the start of 2008.

Related story Le Temps, 26 April, interview with Claire-Anne Siegrist about the new vaccine and the epidemic, Fre.

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